Pin TRY: Cake Decorating Class

Happy before Halloween weekend, blog world. We had a blast and there will be pictures to come of my costume. Lot's of blonde hair and glitter. :)

I've been having a good time for the last few weeks with Wilton's cake decorating class (Course 1) which I'm currently taking at Michael's. I'm learning the basics - truly the basics, people. I struggle, and I'm pretty sure I'm the worst student in the class. I ask a lot of questions. BUT, my teacher is super awesome and handles me well. (Thank you, Mrs. Janice!) I originally found this class because they were promoting it in Michael's, but I also found a pin describing the class on Pinterest as well. 

Class One: Cookies!

I really recommend getting involved in this if you are looking to learn tricks and tips for cakes, looking to learn how to decorate cakes, or if you're like me and just wanted to have a hobby and really have no idea where to start with cakes. There's probably about 6 other people in the class with me and we always have a good time. Some are more advanced than others, but we're all there for the same reason - to make awesome cakes. 

So, for our first class, Mrs. Janice started at the basics - how do you ice a cake, how do you make icing, what's the best way to bake a cake, and then she turned us loose, and we started decorating some sugar cookies with our beginner cake starter kit. 

Class Two - Cake!

For the second class, we made a cake and butter cream frosting. This was my first time baking a cake from scratch and not from a box. Also, I've never made icing from scratch either. I was a little hesitant, but they both came out amazing. I got my recipe from www.cakecentral.com and found the yellow cake recipe here. I brought this bad boy to work the next day and my co-workers raved about it. The butter cream recipe was one that Wilton gave to us in our book. Deee-licious, but not super healthy - working with a lot of Crisco. However, I will add that after working with the icing, my hands were very, very soft.

For my third class, we decorated cupcakes. I really liked this one. I made chocolate cupcakes - of course. Our instructor showed us how to do everything from the hairy cupcakes, to the stars, to the flower. 

Class Three- Cupcakes!

 My last class is coming up on Tuesday. We'll be decorating another cake and utilizing all the skills that we've learned so far. I'm pretty pumped for this one and haven't figured out what I'm going to decorate just yet. Hopefully it will turn out well. 

I had absolutely no previous experience icing, coloring, or making cute cupcakes and this class has unlocked some creative juices. I definitely recommend getting involved in this class if you have the opportunity. 

Good luck and happy crafting! 
 

Pin TRY: S'more Cookies

You're killin' me, Smalls!!

Good evening, blog world. It's a wonderful Saturday. Not only because LSU won (yeahhhhh buddy!), but also because we made S'more cookies for after dinner. YUM-EE! These were so delish, but so not a good thing for multiple times of the week or even yet, multiple times per month. (Not so healthy). 

So, I found this original pin on Pinterest right here. You can see all the directions written on the pin. They're very simple and you only need 4 easy ingredients: graham crackers (I got the reduced fat kind to make myself feel better, jeez), cookie dough, marshmallows, and my personal favorite -- chocolate (nom nom nom). Okay, so just follow your Sandlot instructions: "You put the 'mallow on the graham...." and so on. But just in case you've never seen The Sandlot which is quite possibly one of the greatest movies ever made and you definitely need to Netflix it immediately, here's what I did to create these sugar overload gems:

Step 1: Put down graham crackers into your pan
Step 2: Roll out a whole tube of cookie dough and cover over the graham crackers
Step 3: Put in 350 degree oven for about 8-9 minutes - doesn't have to be completely cooked all the way through
Step 4: Pull out of oven and put chocolate on top (and don't burn your fingers...like I did out of excitement), then add marshmallows on top of that. 
Step 5: Bake in oven for about 10 more minutes or until marshmallows are nice and browned on top. 

Delightful

This was simple to make and ideal for me, because I know, I know... boy do I struggle. 


Note to self: let this puppy cool before you eat it otherwise it will burn the ever-living mess out of the top of your mouth and you will look silly as...you guessed it...as you struggle. Also, we didn't eat with our hands and we used forks. This is messy, messy.

Otherwise, these were awesome, easy, and the boyfriend gave the thumb's up to them as well. You can't really go wrong with these ingredients either. 

Good luck trying this and as always happy cooking and crafting!  

Pin TRY: DIY Hair Accessories

Oh Hay!

Happy Tuesday, blog world. What a great start to my week. The weather was really nice today annnnnnd I got my hair cut. Yayyy!! I am notorious for delaying and procrastinating on getting my hair "did," and it grows really fast at that. My hair was almost all the way down my back. Way too long and it got to the point where I didn't want to style or mess with it at all.

I chopped off a good six inches and was a little nervous as I watched it all hit the ground. But, my stylist did a great job, as she always does, and I feel super cute with my new 'do! 

Snow White headband and rose

So, in having cute hair, what better to make than new barrettes and hair bows. I found a link on Pinterest with super cute ideas for headbands, clips, etc. Most of these items, I'll admit, are a little too young for me to be wearing. But, I wanted to at least try this craft just to see if I could do it! Turns out, I can....sort of. Haha, well you be the judge.

LSU flower headband, pumpkin, and rose barrettes

Here is the original pin, and here's another that taught me exactly what I needed to do. I packed up and went to Michael's to gather up some ribbon and some head gear. I got multi-colored headbands and barrettes to start. This site shows you how to do everything. Basically, you'll just have to cut and glue your ribbons into different shapes. Here are the two pictures of what I came up with. The Snow White headband was HARD and took me a while and I struggled big time. I showed it to my mom and she told me in the sweetest, most southern Louisiana way, that it was ugly. Thanks, Mom. She did approve of the picture on the left. I ended up giving the pumpkin, rose, and flower headband to my boss' little 5 year old girl. She loves them - or so they tell me. At any rate, these are really cute and not hard to make (excluding Snow White). If you need a cute and easy gift idea for a little girl, I would suggest this one. 

Happy crafting! 

Pin FAIL: Button Bowls

Blog world, we meet again. Happy Monday to you - probably the worst day of the week, at least I think. AND to top it off, it's raining... POURING here in Raleigh. I sit right next to a window at my desk and could hear the rain pounding against the glass. Not a great way to keep me motivated. But, I made it and am here to report a miserable and awful Pin Fail. I'm pretty sure this was my fault and not the fault of the original pinner. 

Okay, let's get to it. I found the original pin on Pinterest right here.Very cute right? I was thinking this would be a crafty idea to put keys in or makeup or...just to post on my blog. Whichever, really. So, I started out blowing up just a regular white balloon that I found at Wal-Mart. I then tied it the balloon together and it was probably a medium sized (big enough to hold something if made into a bowl) type. I whipped out my hot glue gun and started to gluing. I glued so much and burned my fingers so much that once I got halfway up the balloon I was ready to stop...and my movie was over. Once I finished, I hesitated to pop that sucker. (I'm absolutely terrified of loud noises like that, especially when I know they're coming. It's just like opening up a can of biscuits...it's terrifying!). Okay, I digress. 

So, I finally popped my balloon (scared myself and my two animals) and then ta-da! ... Hm.... Are you looking at my picture? Awful!

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I'm thinking you weren't supposed to use a hot glue gun. I saw another posting that said "definitely use Mod Podge over glue," and a different one that said, "don't use Mod Podge at all!" Which is it?! I need some directions! 

I would absolutely love to make this craft, but failed miserably and have not re-tried since this disaster. If you know a better way to make this puppy, let me know because I would love to make a button bowl. 

Good luck! 

Pin TRY: Heatlhy Sesame Chicken

Happy College Football Saturday, blog world. I am rooting for my LSU Tigers today as I always do. Hopefully, we will win this weekend against South Carolina. If we don't, especially after the way we played Florida last weekend, I might cry.

Deeeeeeelicious!

Oh well, moving on to more important things... liiiike cooking something delicious for dinner. I made Healthy Sesame Chicken, which I found on, you guessed it - Pinterest. I love Chinese food, but hate that guilty feeling after I pound a huge plate of deliciousness. I actually repinned this from my mom and sent her a picture of my finished product. When I sent it, she asked me where I got the recipe from.... uhhhh... you? Haha.

This was super easy for a "not-so-awesome-but-I-try-really-really-hard-but-I-think-we'll-have-to-eat-at-McDonald's-tonight" type of cook. Not being too specific or anything. 

Drumroll for the recipe which originally came from http://thewaytohisheart.wordpress.com/about/.



Ingredients

Excellent

• 1/2 cup unbleached flour or 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
•  1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into medium sized pieces
• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, use less if you have a sensitivity to salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh scallions (both green and white)

In a gallon-size plastic bag, combine flour, salt, and pepper. Add chicken, seal bag, and shake well to coat.
Coat a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and warm over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skilllet and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minute, or until no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Reduce heat to medium. Combine soy sauce and sugar in skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes max. Add oil and sesame seeds. Add chicken and scallion. Toss and serve immediately.

If you're looking for easy and yummy Chinese without all the guilt, definitely try this recipe. Good luck and happy cooking!

Pin TRY: Low Fat Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello, October!

 Hello and Happy Tuesday, blog world. With this strange fall weather - some days it's cold, some days it's warm, some days I have no idea it's just weather... it's always a good day for a chocolate cupcake. If it's a low fat chocolate cupcake to top it off - sign me up. AND to make this recipe more "fall-ish," I used pumpkin puree in place of all the butter, eggs, etc. 

Ta-da! End product!

I viewed the original pin on Pinterest by clicking on this link. This was incredibly easy to make because there are only three ingredients and no prep time needed. So, it's very hard for someone like me to mess up. Yes! Okay, let's get started. 1) Turn on oven to 350 degrees. Check. I can do that. Okay, next? 2) Mix together chocolate cake mix (low fat) and pumpkin. The recipe calls to use a mixer, but I was lazy and just used a spoon. I hate having to clean (lick) the mixers. Struggle. Also, you just have to add in the cake mix and the pumpkin - you don't have to put in all the egg/oil/water/etc stuff that the back of the cake mix box calls for. 3) Add in a few chocolate chips...3 1/2)and then eat some for good measure. 4) Put some tins in your muffin pan and put the mix to each tin. 5) Put in for 22-25 minutes. 6) Eat, enjoy, fall in love.

Please feed us, Mommy!

This was very easy to make and made about 20 cupcakes. They were so yummy and even lasted for a few days after and were still super fresh. I even brought them in to my co-workers 3 days after making them and they thought I was a bakery goddess. Not quite there, but give me a few more Pinterest projects and we'll see what happens. They even smelled so good that my two little pup pups were in the kitchen begging for a nibble. Sorry, girls can't have this one, but they do look super cute.



 
Happy crafting!

Pin TRY: Crayon Pumpkins

Yahoo! It's the weekend and good lordy am I happy. My boyfriend is out of town until Sunday and went to Chicago for a work function, so I was home alone with my two pups. The dogs were acting ridic this morning, so I packed them up and sent them to doggie day care. Boy, do I suggest doggie day care to all the dog owners out there. They get to see all their favorite four-legged friends from around the area, the staff at the daycare we go to, Dog Diggity in Raleigh NC, are awesome, and our dogs are EXHAUSTED when they come home.

With that said, I'm trying to decorate my house for Halloween and get into the fall, spooky spirit. It's much easier when the girls are out of the house. So, I checked out Pinterest for good ways to decorate and specifically looking at pumpkins. I really like carving pumpkins and making scary faces, but wanted to try something a little different this year. I found this pin to add a little bedazzle Madeline flair. 

 So, I bought a pumpkin from Wal-Mart, a pack of crayons, and sat down with newspaper and a lighter to make these Crayon Pumpkins. I had so much fun making these. I'm thinking because everyone has a little bit of a pyromaniac in them (fireeeeee), and I love crayons (eeee!). So I got to burning, and lighting, and smoking the crayons and just let them drip all over my pumpkin. Perfect craft for me because I struggle, this we know, and there's no way to mess this up. -- Well, I guess unless you get a little too happy with your fire and burn your house down. DON'T burn your house down.

I decided to do a few different colors on this one, but as you can see from the original pin, you can paint, add glitter, or make one main color. The possibilities are endless, people! 

My end result:)

Happy crafting!